1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to computer user interfaces, and in particular to a computer program for generating a custom control user interface for selected modules in an object library.
2. Description of Related Art
Component software is software that can be packaged into small, powerful, self-contained units that can be put together to build software applications. Software developers often modularize their programs by creating object libraries (known as dynamically linked libraries or DLLs in Windows.TM. environments). A library often contains a set of procedures or modules that perform one or more separate functions. A header file is usually associated with the library and is included in an application program so that the library's procedures are correctly invoked and passed parameters by the application program. Using such a library, the software developer can reference the module to perform the desired function instead of recreating the functionality from scratch.
In another attempt to improve the software development environment, Microsoft Corporation has developed so-called custom controls. Custom controls are self-contained modules providing elements of a user interface. Custom controls work in the same way that standard Windows.TM. elements such as listboxes or pushbuttons do, and appear as icons in the software development platform (such as Visual C++, Visual Basic, etc.). In the software development platform, the software developer selects the icon for the desired interface element and places it in the application program's work space. Once that is done and the application program is built, the source code for the custom control becomes a part of the source code for the application program. Any additional functionality that is specific to the application program may be added by the software developer. In this way, the software developer can focus on the requirements of his/her application program and not on the trivial aspects of the user interface.
What is needed, however, is a way to combine libraries with custom controls. A major problem with most libraries is that the modules therein usually have no built-in user interface associated with them. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of generating custom controls for modules in an object library.